It is pretty much a conclusion that without bees, life on this planet would not exist. Cathy Isom tells you about the best plants to plant in your garden to bring out the bees. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. By now, we are more than well aware of the declining bee population over the past few decades and …
States Sue EPA to Prevent Insecticide Use
A coalition of states has filed a legal challenge to a Trump administration decision to keep a widely used pesticide on the market in spite of studies that show it can harm the development of children’s brains. The coalition, led by New York, filed a motion to intervene in the legal battle over continued spraying of chlorpyrifos. The coalition says …
Russia Extends Ban on U.S. and E.U. Produce
Russia has extended its ban on produce from the U.S. and the European Union through the end of 2018. The ban was first put in place in 2014 and includes the U.S., E.U., Norway, Ukraine, and several other countries. The ban was going to expire on January 1st but Russia extended its sanctions after the E.U. extended its own trade …
Amazon Food Stamp Policy Ruffling Feathers
Amazon has a new Prime program for the millions of Americans who have EBT cards. The new policy is causing America’s grocers to complain to Washington, D.C. that the online giant may not be playing by the rules. Politico’s Morning Agriculture Report says USDA feels Amazon isn’t doing anything wrong. The grocery store industry is telling USDA officials and lawmakers …
Pork Wants U.S. Bilateral Trade Deal with Japan
The European Union and Japan formally agreed to the outline of a free trade deal. America’s pork producers want to know why the U.S. isn’t moving on its own bilateral deal with Japan, the highest value market for U.S. pork exports. A Pork Network Dot Com article says now that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has gone away, the U.S. needs …
Mexico is No Longer Top Buyer for U.S. Corn
U.S. corn shipments to Mexico have slipped in recent months and Mexico in no longer the number one buyer of American corn. A Bloomberg article says it may be a sign that trade tensions are forcing the country to look elsewhere for corn in case the U.S. is no longer a reliable supplier. Sales through May of this year were …
Agri View: Transporting Crops
Everett Griner talks about how transporting crops has changed in today’s Agri View. Growing food and fiber on our farms is one thing. Getting it to consumers is another. It is a system that is nothing like it was one hundred years ago. In its early days, the railroad moved almost everything that was produced in volume. It was the …
EPA Administrator Visits Southeast Agriculture
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt is visiting the Southeast this week, bringing his Back-to-Basics positive environmental agenda with him. He visited Alabama and Georgia, where he was joined by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. Pruitt discusses his trip and Back-to-Basics initiative. “It’s been a wonderful two days,” Pruitt says. He started his trip on July 6 …
Legislature Seeks Spring Trial in Conservation Funding Fight
News Service of Florida Attorneys for the Florida House and Senate have asked a judge to schedule a trial during the last week of March and the first week of April in a long-running battle about whether lawmakers have properly carried out a 2014 constitutional amendment that required setting aside money for land-conservation efforts. The request, filed Monday in Leon …
Demonstrating Careful Antibiotic Stewardship
by Jim Mulhern, President, and CEO National Milk Producers Federation The rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria seen in the United States and elsewhere in the world is frequently and unfairly blamed on antibiotic use in agriculture. This is unfortunate because it tends to mask the real problem: misuse of antibiotics in human medicine. The reality is that the vast majority of …